This was a mean remark to make, since the sneak did not know the details of the affair. But his snap judgment was taken up by not a few of the other cadets and they looked rather sourly at the Rover boys and those who had been with them in the ill-fated trip across the lake.
“So you won the trophy only to lose it, eh?” came from Captain Dale in a voice that showed his regret. He had sense enough to know that no lads would have worked so hard to win a prize unless they were willing to do almost anything to keep it. “Are you quite sure the collision was not your fault, Hicks?” he demanded of the school employee. Hicks was really the janitor’s assistant, but had spent several years on the lake and was known to be a careful man among both sailboats and motor boats.
“It wasn’t my fault at all, Captain Dale,” was Hicks’ firm reply, and he went into the details, as he knew them, of the happening.
“We’ll have to look into this and without delay,” said the military instructor. “You had better report to Colonel Colby.”
After that the Rovers and their chums hurried to the gymnasium, and there those who were wet, as well as the others, changed from their baseball outfits into their uniforms. By this time it was close to the supper hour, and Jack and Fred had to hurry off to take charge of their commands.
It must be confessed that Andy and Randy felt in anything but an enviable frame of mind when they went for their rifles and joined in the brief parade around the campus which always preceded the entrance to the mess hall.
“Some of the fellows will never forgive us for losing that trophy,” remarked Andy, and his usually smiling face showed nothing but gloom.
“I guess you’re right,” answered his twin. “No matter how we try to explain it, they’ll always think that somehow or other we ought to have hung on to the trophy when the collision came.”
“Yes, but, Randy, you nearly lost your life trying to save it!”